Are companies interviewing candidates for a potential role and keeping them on standby as a means to hire them at a later point quickly?
Any entity may list and accept job applications, schedule meetings, and ask candidates to write code. It may be a great way for leadership (tech/people/product) to run their product ideas past candidates and identify how to improve their interview process or product.
[0] Some recruiters may work for free (100% commission) for many companies at once, until a company extends an offer that is accepted.
[1] Software may also be "free" when the company already prepaid for an annual plan; or a license includes X interviews per month; or, the recruiter brings their own tooling, question banks, and services for screening candidates.
Yep this is exactly what's happening. It takes time to source a candidate, schedule interviews, review feedback. If there's a chance that hiring will "unlock" soon companies will keep their pipeline full so they can insta-offer later.
Another three letter company claimed to have a halt to hiring at the offer stage as well, but continued to leave the posting up for the next six months at least. This was in 2021 when things were hot.